My heart has been racing and I do really know why. Yeah, a really good friend of mine JUST died, but that's not why. Well, that's not the only reason why. Something else, something I don't want myself to find out. But what could that possibly be? What happened these past couple of weeks that I don't want myself to remember? The harder I try to think, the harder it is to figure it out, and the more I want to cry.

Cry? Crying seems appropriate for loosing Shawna, but what else is there to cry for?

Tears well up in my eyes and fall down my cheeks, but I don't feel sad. I feel...indifferent.

What?

I look around at my Matoki, wiping my never ending tears. I am searching for what I lost. 

"What have I lost?" I ask myself.

Arms wrap around me, putting me in a tight embrace. "You've lost a dear friend," I hear Yongguk say in my ear.

I hold onto him and tears keep falling. "No, not just that. I didn't loose just that. More, more," I say frantically. "I lost something and I can't rememberer." My grip on the Matoki gets tighter and my breathing becomes more frantic. "One, two...five, six,- Adrie! Where's Adrie?"

"He-jin, calm down," she says, rubbing my arm. "I'm right here, okay? Shhhhh." Her teary eyes look up at me. She is in pain. She has lost something, too. I loosen my grip on Yongguk, but my breathing is still quick.

"Adrie!" I say between breaths. "Adrie, Shawna, she-" inhale, exhale, "she didn't-" inhale, exhale, "someone-" inhale, exhale, "not meant to-" inhale, exhale, "die! My fault-" inhale, "all my fault!" Inhale, inhale, inhale.

(Third person)

"She's hyperventilating!" Yongguk yells, loud enough for the doctors at the end of the hall to hear. He backs away from her to give her space. "He-jin, what's wrong?" He whispers under his breath, holding back from hugging her, hoping whatever is going on stops. "Seeing her like this is painful' he thinks. 

Adrienne, on the other hand, is speechless. Yongguk may not have seen it, but she most definitely saw it. Terror. Extreme terror in He-Jin's eyes. At first, Adrienne was getting annoyed with her attitude, freaking out over a friend's death when she wasn't even that close. A thought she hates to admit she thought. But then He-Jin started freaking out and then her eyes showed something else than originally believed. The freak out wasn't because of Shawna's death. 'She was terrified of something else. She kept saying she forgot', Adrie thinks, looking at a doctor coming their way. 

"He-jin," Jongup mumbles, also in pain from the sight before him. A door behind him opens and the nurse walks out with Shawna's bed and body in tow. The presence from before has vanished. The nurse is now only that, a nurse. He looks from Shawna's covered body to the woman pushing it away. Then he hears chairs fall.

"She having a seizure!" A doctor yells, pushing everyone back. "We have to make sure she doesn't injure herself," he shouts, pushing all the chairs out of her reach. The boys and Adrienne follow his lead, but Zelo can only stare.

The human girl he has lived with for a while... The young Matoki has never seen her face contorted with so much fear before. While her body lies on the floor, convulsing sporadically, her eyes stay locked on a fixed point. Zelo's eyes follow hers when he stops of the nurse rounding the corner, a grin etched onto her face.

•  •  •
(AAAANNNDDD, back to He-Jin)

"The hell was that about?!" Yongguk shouts. Hearing his voice upon waking up is annoying beyond belief. Hearing his voice in my native tongue is even worse. Just hearing him in general... UGH!!

"What do you mean? Do you think I did that on purpose?!" I ask, offence in my tone just so he knows.

"I wasn't really asking you as much as I'm kinda freaking out," he explains, rubbing his eyes and pacing around the room. "You really scared me back there. And worse, I couldn't do anything..."

"Thanks for trying, but I don't remember what happened after we left Shawna's room." I sit up, my back cracking as if I have been sleeping for a long time. "Which reminds me, why were you guys so tense when the nurse came in?" I ask, looking mostly at Himchan, since his grip was quite painful.

Their face tell me I asked a question that brought up bad memories. They all look like they've seen a ghost. And if they had weapons, they would probably have them drawn and ready, just in case the ghost came back to attack.

Or worse. dun Dun DUUUUUUUUUUU-

"She- I swear, her presence was unbelievably familiar," Himchan answers, giving me the most perfect 'I'm crazy' look I've seen in a long time. And as if he read my mind, he adds "Yongguk, please tell her I'm not crazy."

"You are-"

"Why you-"

"But I agree with you," says the leader. "Her presence was familiar, but there was something making it hard to recognize...."

"Like looking at someone through foggy glass?" Says Youngjae. "I don't know where she went to, so we can't ask who she is."

"I saw her leave," adds Zelo. "She creeped me out. She had this creepy smile on her face that I just can't shake off."

"Aww, did the pwetty nurse scawe you?" I ask teasingly, holding my arms out for a hug. 

"Yes," he says, playing along. "Protect me, weak human! Use your flimsy arms and keep her away from me!"

"Yah!" I flick him in the shoulder and he snickers. "Well, whoever she was, she was really pretty. Like, wow..." I push the maknae away, stand up and slap my cheeks. "Where's Adrie?"

"She said she needed to take a walk," Daehyun answers, throwing his thumb in the direction of the door.

"I need one too-"

"I'll come as well-"

"No, no you won't," I say, stopping the Matoki leader. 

"But you're-"

"Fine on my own. I'll go look for Adrie, so don't worry." I walk over to the door and pull it open. The action, although simple, is harder than I am used to. Takes a bit out of me, you know?

"Stupid woman," I hear him mumble under his breath. I pick up the nearest slipper and manage to hit the back of his head. Before he can catch me, I run out the door and down the hall.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(Third person time, baby!)

"So, that nurse from before. She must be a Matoki!" Youngjae concludes, pulling out a small device from his shoe. "Let's narrow down the list of Matokis to those that could possess such an overwhelming presence."

"The chancellor would be someone," says Daehyun. "She is hard not to notice."

"But she's old," says the maknae.

"Doesn't matter right now. More names."

"The one Matoki we jailed last year." Says the leader. "She had this crazy mask with a bright orange streak across it..."

"Her?" Asks the pink Matoki. 

"Yeah," replies Youngjae. "She was very strong and her aura was suffocating at full blast."

"She threw me around like a rag doll," says the white Matoki with a smirk on his face.

"What about the princess!" Says the blue Matoki.

"No," snaps the leader. "She wouldn't be on earth."

"Doesn't matter right now," fires back the yellow Matoki. "We are just making a list."

They continue the list, but only come up with a few. They take out all the males, which leaves them with the chancellor, the princess, a criminal, two Matoki soldiers, the leader of squad 7 and the nice lady down the street from Jongup's parent's place. 

"Ms. Likamato is out of the question!" Jongup says right off the bat. "She never goes anywhere but the grocery, the park and the cemetery to see her dead husband."

"I concur," says Youngjae, deleting the lady from the list. "Rikamato, the criminal. She's still in custody."

"100% sure?" Yongguk asks, a little doubtful.

"110%" he is answered.

"What about the two soldiers?" Says Himchan. "I'm not very familiar with them."

"Jigemato and Dezamato," says Daehyun. "They were the strongest of the 123rd division. I remember testing them, but I doubt their aura could be that powerful."

"I remember them!" Adds Zelo. "They thought they could beat me in a match. They can be cocky, but they know their place when put in it."

"Off the list?" Youngjae asks.

"Yep," both Daehyun and Zelo say.

"Squad leader Nicomato?"

"She would never dress up as a nurse," says every other Matoki in unison.

"Off the list, then."

"That only leaves the chancellor and the princess." Says Himchan.

"The chancellor is too old," the maknae says again.

"You can't change the gender of your human form, but you can change the age appearance," Youngjae notes.

"The princess would never come to Earth without telling us," adds Yongguk.

"100% sure?" Youngjae asks, a cynical smile pulling at his lips.

"10-"

"No you aren't," the yellow Matoki interrupts. "We can call them when we get back to Korea."

"That may be a long time from now, though," says the second in command.

"It's the only thing we can do."

_________________________

It wasn't supposed to be this short a chapter, but things accidentally got deleted, and there were supposed to be two chapters for Christmas. The next one will hopefully come in the the new year.

Until then, Minnie-ature panda OUT!

TTFN!

Uyen1005: Sorry! ;P